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High Notes, Vol 25 No 10, April 05 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our representative volleyball players. Karan Dahiya (12S) was selected to represent NSW CHS in the Open Boys Volleyball division. Roger He (9E), Aaron Jin (9R) and Axel Lam (9E) were chosen in the NSW CHS U16 Boys Volleyball division. Well done to the boys and their coaches, led by Mr Kay.

UNSW Co-op Applications

Students should be aware of what happens to UNSW Co-op applications, considering how popular they have been at High. Australia-wide, 827 applications were submitted from 232 schools but another 1137 remained in draft form and so never officially submitted. At High in 2023 there were 27 applications that remained in draft, 19 were properly submitted [Takeaway – if you bother to go to the trouble of submitting a draft, finish it off and submit it.]  There were 288 interviews held for 246 applicants. Fifty-five scholarships have been offered so far. From High, there were nine interviews, with four short listed and two students received offers. Tony Wang accepted a Scholarship in Actuarial Studies. [Takeaway – if you are really interested in a course, research it and put the effort into your application because nearly every year someone from High is successful.]

Literacy Development in Years 7-9 

As part of our literacy objective in our Strategic Improvement Plan, we intend all students to engage in literacy development. In a nutshell, we want our students to be more skilful, accurate, versatile, and purposeful writers. We want them to read more widely, analyse more closely and listen more actively. There is an ongoing whole school emphasis on closer reading, clearer writing. Students need to focus on audience, sentence construction, ideas generation and vocabulary. Examples of text types you should be able to identify when you read, and compose when you write, include – narrative, procedure, report, description, discussion, exposition, recount, poem, text response, analysis, and evaluation. We want students to create more concise, legible, coherent, and accurate texts.

In addition, students need to read more closely. We want students to do five things to become better readers. Read actively – engage with the text by asking questions, making predictions, and summarising key points as you read. Annotate what you read – Mark important passages, jot down notes or page numbers and highlight key concepts to aid understanding and retention. Build your vocabulary – Look up unfamiliar words in a thesaurus and note their meanings in different contexts to grasp the author’s intention better. Find context clues – Scan the surrounding sentences/ paragraphs/ illustrations to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words or concepts. Read reflectively - Take a break from what you have read to synthesise and summarise the big idea, connect it to your prior knowledge and think critically about the content.

We are asking for parental support to encourage wide reading using the Junior Library resources to assist in building student vocabulary. Dr Love has purchased many books recommended by the students themselves that can be borrowed from the Andrews Library.  Help us to make reading an important part of your son’s weekly routine in 2024.

World Health Day

April 7th is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the World Health Organisation in 1948. Its ambitious goal is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health and wellbeing. The organisation pioneered the use of antibiotics since 1951; the Salk (1952) intravenous and Sabine (1962) oral vaccinations were distributed in a campaigned to eliminate polio; and the eradication of smallpox after a 12-year campaign, in 1980. The organisation today faces many challenges – COVID-19 pandemic, the collateral damage to the health of civilian populations in global conflict zones and the threat of global food security and malnutrition. WHO is a laudatory example of international humanitarianism.

Paragraph Conscious Pedagogy: Responses

Responses – express views about an artistic work in written, visual, or aural - they form judgement, offer an opinion, give a reaction). They are texts about texts. A common response structure – Context - name, author, genre, style, artistic school + brief synopsis of the work. Description – key features are outlined, and significant events highlighted. Judgement – a personal response to the text is detailed and may include a recommendation as to its artistic value or importance in an artistic tradition. Response language is often abstract – the analysis, the interpretation, the X school of artists, the Y literary tradition. Responses are usually written in the present tense as they relate to individual responses. E.g. book, theatre, CD, or movie review. Response of art or movie critic.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal